Free Fateful by Claudia Gray Page B

little huddled wretch on the floor. I realize that I am one of the only people in the world who knows his secret, and that gives me power. Not much power, perhaps, and the knowledge is more trouble than it’s worth—but if I have a hunter after me, I have to take what strength I can.
    “When I first saw the two of you,” I say, “near the grand staircase, yesterday morning—that was when you first realized Mikhail had followed you onboard, wasn’t it?”
    “Yes.” Alec leans against the wall, still tired, though I think this is now more emotional than physical. “My father and I booked passage at the last moment. Yet somehow they knew. The Brotherhood has spies everywhere.”
    So, they aren’t working together. But maybe Alec at least knows this: “Why did Mikhail come after me? What’s in the box I was carrying, the one he wanted so badly?”
    Alec sighs. “I don’t know, though I’ve been wondering. The man is hugely wealthy, so he wouldn’t bother stealing if it were merely a matter of money. There’s something special inside that box. Something unique. Something Mikhail can’t get any other way.” His green eyes search my face. “You didn’t look inside?”
    “No. It locks, and I don’t have the key.”
    “I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of any connection between the Lisle family and werewolves.”
    I can’t help but laugh. “Not hardly.”
    He lifts his chin. “But of course, you don’t know all their secrets, do you? You’re merely a servant girl.”
    Although Alec says it matter-of-factly, with none of the contempt Layton or Lady Regina puts in those words, hearing him dismiss me that way stings. “Who do you think knows more about what happens in a house than the servants? No one. I know things about every person at Moorcliffe that the other members of the family could never guess.”
    Now, that sounds like I’m bragging, or threatening to tell, and I wish I hadn’t said it. But Alec doesn’t pry for more. He looks as though that threw him off his guard.
    So I press my advantage. “Why are you going back to the United States, when you haven’t found the cure you were looking for? To get away from the Brotherhood?”
    “Partly.” His expression darkens, not with anger but with sadness. As he turns toward me, I realize how desperately lonely Alec is; he’s talking to me not only because he feels he must, but because—no matter how ashamed he is of his secrets—it feels good to talk to someone. “But . . . I’m too dangerous for polite society. For any society. Look what I nearly did to you last night. What I might have done if I hadn’t been sure to eat just before sundown. I penned myself in here because it was one of the only places onboard with nothing to damage and no other people around after dark, but even then, you’ve told me, I nearly—” The words choke in his throat. Alec takes a deep breath before he continues. “I want to find an isolated place on the frontier. Someplace remote, where I can live without hurting anyone. My father will take me out West, help me get established, and then leave me behind. It’s past time he had a normal life again. At least one of us can. Maybe there I’ll finally be beyond the Brotherhood’s reach.”
    Then he focuses on me. “But Mikhail’s after more than the box. That first night, in Southampton—you must have realized by now that he was the wolf who tried to attack you.”
    I nod. “But why would he be after me? If it’s the box he wants.”
    “For fun. The box—that’s only why he first began following the Lisles and you as their servant. After that, he wanted to kill you for fun.” The simple way Alec says it makes it all the more horrifying. “I thought if I helped you then, he’d probably never see you again. That he’d be looking for me and forget about you. When he saw you aboard the Titanic , though . . . now you’re something he wants and couldn’t get. Proof he’s not all-powerful: